G/wi language

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G/wi or Gǀui (sometimes spelled Dcui) is a Khoisan language of Botswana with 2,500 speakers (2004 Cook). It is part of the G‖ana-G/wi dialect cluster of the Tshu-Khwe family, and is closely related to Naro.

Contents 1 Click consonants 2 Dialect 3 Reference 4 External link

[edit] Click consonants

G/wi may have up to 48 click consonants. As with many of the Tshu-Khwe languages, clicks have lost some of their importance under the influence of neighboring Bantu languages. Many words which previously began with clicks (as shown by cognates in related languages) have lost them over the past few centuries in G/wi.

G/wi has both velar and uvular clicks. Altogether there are twelve such accompaniments, or effluxes. Except for the lack of a bilabial click release, this inventory is nearly identical to that of ‡Hõã. It may be that not all 48 potential clicks are actually found in the language, or may exist but have not yet been recorded.

accompaniment	affricated clicks		'sharp' clicks
	dental clicks	lateral clicks	alveolar clicks	palatal clicks
Velar nasal	ǀŋ	ǁŋ	ǃŋ	ǂŋ
Voiced velar	ǀg	ǁg	ǃg	ǂg
Tenuis velar	ǀk	ǁk	ǃk	ǂk
Aspirated velar	ǀkʰ	ǁkʰ	ǃkʰ	ǂkʰ
Glottalized velar (prenasalized between vowels)	ǀkˀ (ŋˀǀk)	ǁkˀ (ŋˀǁk)	ǃkˀ (ŋˀǃk)	ǂkˀ (ŋˀǂk)
Delayed aspiration (voiceless delayed-aspirated velar nasal)	ǀŋ̊ʰ	ǁŋ̊ʰ	ǃŋ̊ʰ	ǂŋ̊ʰ
Prenasalized voiced uvular	ɴǀɢ	ɴǁɢ	ɴǃɢ	ɴǂɢ
Tenuis uvular	ǀq	ǁq	ǃq	ǂq
Aspirated uvular	ǀqʰ	ǁqʰ	ǃqʰ	ǂqʰ
Voiceless uvular affricate	ǀq͡χ	ǁq͡χ	ǃq͡χ	ǂq͡χ
Uvular ejective	ǀq’	ǁq’	ǃq’	ǂq’
Uvular ejective affricate	ǀq͡χ’	ǁq͡χ’	ǃq͡χ’	ǂq͡χ’

[edit] Dialect

• Khute

[edit] Reference

• Hirosi Nakagawa, 1995. "A Preliminary Report on the Click Accompaniments of |Gui". Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 25.2, 49-63.

[edit] External link

• The Ethnologue Report for G/wi

Khoisan languages  (classification)	Edit
‖Ani | G‖ana | G/wi | Hadza | ‡Hõã | Ju/’hoan | Korana | !Kung (!Xũũ) | Kwadi | ‡Kx’au‖’ein | Kxoe | Nama | Naro | N/u | Sandawe | Seroa | Shua | Tsoa | ǀXam | ‖Xegwi | Xiri | !Xóõ